712 FLIGHT
CIVIL AVIATION
B.I.A.T.A.'s ANNUAL REVIEW
T^HE annual dinner of the British Independent Air Transport
•*• Association, held at the Mayfair Hotel, London, on November
19th, was a most successful and enjoyable occasion, some 150
guests being present.
The chairman of the Association, A. Cdre. Griffith Powell,
C.B.E., proposed "The Guests." He said that the Association
was fairly well satisfied with the year's progress in the operating
sense. "A little bread is better than no bread at all, but it is a
dull commodity as a steady diet." The setting-up of Air Finance,
Ltd., was welcome. The Association would welcome the Armed
Forces setting up a reserve of aircraft to be let out for operation
to the independents and other aircraft operators.
[In connection with trooping requirements and the need to
maintain an air transport reserve in the absence of a strong
Transport Command of the R.A.F., a good case can be made
financially for the purchase by the Services of transport aircraft
to their own choice. Such machines could be operated in peace
time by one or more of the independent companies, for example,
who would look after the trooping commitments at an economical
rate and at other times wouW operate the machines commercially,
so making full and economical use of them.—Ed.]
A. Cdre. Powell paid a tribute to Lord Terrington and to
Viscount Runciman for the work of the Air Transport Advisory
Council. Of the Anglo-Irish agreement now under review it was
made clear that from the independents' point of view there had
in the past been much that was regarded as unsatisfactory. The
independents hoped for improvements. A. Cdre. Powell said
that B.I.A.T.A. had assumed a very strong position in the
European deliberations of F.I.T.A.P., and had come to the fore
in world independent air-transport deliberations. During his
speech the chairman also regretted that Mr. David Mclntyre,
the vice-chairman, would not be able to take over the chair in the
following year, but he welcomed the new vice-chairman, Mr.
Maurice Curtis, and the new treasurer, Mr. G. H. Freeman, who
was to succeed Mr. Bamberg at the end of the year.
Concluding his speech, he referred to new friendships formed
consequent upon the joining-up of the M.C.A. and Transport
Ministries, and he welcomed former Ministers in Lord Winster
and Mr. Maclay.
Viscount Runciman, deputy chairman of the Air Transport
Advisory Council, replied for the guests. He mentioned that
since j une last, 237 applications had been submitted to the Coun
cil, of which 214 had come from independents. Fourteen had been
withdrawn while under consideration, 10 more had been with
drawn after approval, 171 had been finally recommended, and of
these 107 had so far been approved.
The third speaker was the Parliamentary Under-Secretary for
War, Colonel J. R. H. Hutchison. He said that the War Office
was the independents' best customer and he commended the
independents upon bringing a flexible mind to joint problems and
dealing with them in a reasonable manner. The original trooping
plan had provided for 25,000 per annum, whereas the present rate
was 72,000 per annum and in the last year there had been in addi
tion the air movement of two brigades to Kenya. Trooping
represented 24 per cent of the total passengers carried by the
independents, or on a mileage basis, 72 per cent of die work. The
War Office had some contracts and commitments with the ship
ping companies but were anxious to continue air trooping, and
to see that transport companies had safe and adeauate aircraft.
Colonel Hutchison said that he had chosen for his toast the
prosperity and future of British air transport.
The final speaker was ths vice chairman of the Association,
Mr. D. F. Mclntyre, A.F.C., who employed an amusing analogy
of the fortunes of three, and later only two, fat and favoured pups
by comparison with the lean ones in obtain'ng a share of the
single dish of food. Thanks to the Army and Air Ministry another
dish of food had been put down for the little and thin pups.
The B.I.A.T.A. dinner is an occasion of considerable signifi
cance to the independent airlines, and it was unfortunate that,
as Mr. Lennox-Boyd (who has been out of the country) was
unable to attend for the second year running, his Parliamentary
Secretary, Mr. Profumo, should also be absent.
There follow some highlights from the B.I.A.T.A. annual
report, which covers the period July 1st, 1952, to June 30th, 1953:
Scheduled Services.—Available capacity ton-miles flown by
British independent operators increased by 78.7 per cent—from
4,035,000 to 7,214,000. Load ton-miles performed increased 92
per cent—from 2,356.000 to 4,526,000—and the overall load
factor went up from 58.4 per cent to 62.7 per cent. The number
of passengers carried was over 149.000—more than twice as many
as in 1951-1952—and the fact that traffic increases were mainly
on the international routes is reflecred in the 135.7 per cent
increase in passenger-miles flown—from nearly 15m to 35m.
By operating 98.7 per cent of the 30,699 flights scheduled for the
period, the independents achieved slightly higher regularity than
either B.O.A.C. or B.E.A.
Non-scheduled Operations.—Capacity and load ton-miles flown
during the year were approximately eight times as great as those
performed on scheduled services. Apart from normal charter
operations, B.I.A.T.A. members flew nearly 50,000 refugees
from Berlin to Western Germany, as well as 34,000 tons of
freight. Trooping operations accounted for 50 per cent of the
total passengers carried on non-scheduled flights by B.I.A.T.A.
members, and for 84 per cent of the total passenger mileage. The
report quotes some official comparative costs of sea and air
trooping and notes the Select Committee on Estimates view
that even if the cost of trooping by air were higher than trooping
by sea, this would be outweighed by the saving in time and there
fore of man-hours — an elimination of wastage particularly
important in the case of National Servicemen.
The figures show that charter aircraft can take a man from the
United Kingdom to Egypt for £22, compared with an average
troopship fare of £30; the corresponding cost by commercial ship
would be £40 and by B.O.A.C. £86. Figures for the U.K.
Singapore route are: charter aircraft, £100; troopship, £75;
commercial, £135; and B.O.A.C., £206. Capacity ton-miles
offered by B.I.A.T.A. aircraft on non-scheduled flights during
the year totalled a record 57,994,000—an increase of 119 per
cent. Load ton-miles performed increased by 116 per cent to
38,239,000. Even greater was the increase of 133 per cent in
the number of passengers carried (175,584).
Combined Operations.—On both regular and non-scheduled
services B.I.A.T.A. members performed 42,765,000 load ton-
miles, corresponding figures for B.E.A. and B.O.A.C. during the
same period being 46,500,000 and 140,094,000.
Fleet Strength.—At June 30th B.I.A.T.A. members were
operating 40 four-engined aircraft, 113 twin-engined aircraft
and 8 single-engined aircraft. The all-up-weight of this fleet,
by comparison with the previous year, had increased by 62 per
cent to 5,012.000 lb.
In conclusion the report urges that the independents should
not be considered as the "poor relations" of the State Corpora
tions. In this respect, it adds, the present policy of blending
private and public enterprise is emerging along the right lines
"so long as the policy is given full and active backing."
RAPIDE 4 TO NAIROBI
NEWS has come from Mr. Alec Noon of his flight from Southampton to Nairobi in VP-KLL, the Rapide 4 whose
performance was described by the Editor in last week's issue.
Starting on November 4th, the aircraft was delayed by fog at
Toussous le Noble, and later by severe thunderstorms and more
fog in Southern France and Sardinia. The machine behaved
extremely well on the flight, Mr. Noon reports, and was to have
been demonstrated before representatives of East African Air
ways Corporation and other local companies during this week. The
operating companv, Noon and Pearce Air Charters, Ltd., are
based at Nairobi West Airport.
PIG-LIFT TO JUGOSLAVIA
A PPROXIMATELY one thousand pedigree pigs (total value
*^ some £50,000) are being flown from England to Jugoslavia
by Eagle Aviation and Sabena. Following six trial flights in June
of this year, on which a total of 120 pigs were carried by Eagle,
the first flight of the maior contract was made on November 20th
by the same company. Two specially equipped Dakotas are being
used, and the route is Blackbushe-Munich-Belgrade (Zemun).
Sabena, also, is using Dakotas and flying from Blackbushe to
carry out their pig-lift contract. The first such flight by the
Belgian airline was scheduled for midnight on Monday last, and
two flights were subsequently to be made each night for a
fortnight.
The aim of the large-scale operations is to improve Jugoslav
bacon production; the animals have been selected from over 100
English farms, and moved to a special "transit farm" near Black
bushe, where personal details such as weight are listed and health
documents checked prior to the flights.
NEW SERVICES APPROVED
CONDITIONAL approval of three new seasonal services by British independent operators is announced by the Ministry
of Transport and Civil Aviation. Air Kruise (Kent), Ltd., have
permission to operate an internal service between Ramsgate
and/or Lympne and Birmingham from April to September each
year until September 1960. A second scheduled service is to be
ooerated by Aquila Airways between Southampton Water and
Capri with an optional traffic stop at Marseilles also from April